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Commonwealth v. Suffolk.2/13/1998
son semiautomatic pistol that was recovered from the van after the accident: the hammer of the gun was cocked, the safety was off, and there was one live cartridge in the chamber and seven live cartridges in the magazine. He further testified that if one pulled the trigger, the gun would have fired.
A forensic chemist at the State police crime laboratory who had examined the van, the victim's clothes and the defendant's clothes testified as to the results of her examination. She found the victim's blood running down the driver's side door and in blood spatters that traveled in a downward and outward direction on the door. She was of the opinion that for this pattern to have been generated and remained in that fashion, the blood would have had to remain undisturbed for a period of a minimum of five to a maximum of fifteen minutes. She also found a pool of the defendant's blood under the driver's seat. On the passenger side of the vehicle, she found embedded in the broken windshield hair and tissue consistent with that of the defendant's hair and tissue. She also found glass fragments from the windshield in the defendant's jacket but none on Doyle's clothes. On the passenger's side sliding door there were traces of blood consistent with that of Doyle's blood as well as fibers consistent with those taken from a maroon sweater worn by Doyle.
Her examination of the defendant's and Doyle's clothing revealed the following. She found Doyle's blood on the seat and right leg of the defendant's jeans; on the right shoulder and right cuff of the defendant's Sportsmaster jacket and the right sleeve and right pocket of the defendant's brown jacket. She found the defendant's blood on the defendant's brown jacket, his sweater, and his jacket, as well as on the rear view mirror and the passenger side dashboard. She also found Doyle's blood on his own clothing but none of the defendant's blood. Based on her findings, the forensic expert opined that at the time the decedent was shot he was in the driver's seat of the van, but that at the time of the accident the defendant was probably in the driver's seat area and Doyle near the sliding passenger door. She also opined that the gunshot wound to the victim's back was fired from a distance of three feet or greater.
The defendant testified that Doyle and he were friends and that he went out drinking with him on occasion. He testified that, on the night in question, the two of them had been drinking at a cafJ in Cambridge and they left the cafJ together. Upon leaving, the defendant got into the passenger's side of Doyle's van and Doyle into the driver's seat. The defendant asked Doyle to give him a ride to his former wife's house. Doyle then left the van to make a phone call. Upon his return, Doyle told the defendant that he had to go to Quincy where he had a customer for a gun. With that statement, Doyle reached under his seat and took the derringer pistol out of a bag and threw it onto the dashboard. The defendant asked Doyle to take him home first but Doyle continued to drive without heeding the defendant's request. The defendant got angry and told Doyle that he was drunk, was crazy and to let him out of the van. When Doyle would not let him out of the van, the defendant "blew his stack" and called Doyle a name which implied that Doyle had molested a child, an accusation which when made by the defendant to Doyle in the past had enraged Doyle. With that comment, Doyle pulled out a gun from his waist band, the 9 mm. Smith and Wesson pistol. The defendant grabbed the victim's arm, pushed it down, and grabbed the derringer from the dashboard. The defendant told Doyle to "back off." The defendant then saw Doyle "pop" the Smith and Wesson, so he shot Doyle with t
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